Cap-and-Trade Website: Make Money by Going Green

When the House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act on June 26, it was a landmark moment for environmental politics. If the bill passes the Senate to become law — no sure thing, given the 60 votes needed in the upper chamber — it would establish the first national caps on carbon emissions. It would also create what would almost certainly be the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas market, since companies would have the option to buy and sell carbon credits and offsets.

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Obama Moscow Speech: President Gets Personal on Democracy in Russia

For more than a week now, White House officials have promised that Barack Obama would directly address the issues of democracy, human rights and freedom of speech in Russia, where all three values are often in scant supply. What they did not predict was that he would tie those causes so closely to his own life story.

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Why Sarah Palin Quit

In bowing out as Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin harkened back to her high school basketball days — although there was no sign of the “Barracuda,” as she was nicknamed for her ability to cut through the opposing team’s offenses. In a hastily called press conference on the eve of a three-day holiday, Palin presented herself as a point guard exhausted by the “full court press from the national level.” The 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee explained how the metaphorical point guard should respond

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Judge Kozinski admonished for explicit items on Web site

A judicial council on Thursday admonished the chief judge of the nation’s largest federal appeals court for having "sexually explicit photos and videos" on his personal Web site, but decided against any further punishment. Judge Alex Kozinski, 58, of the San Francisco, California-based 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals previously apologized and had recommended an investigation because of the public controversy over the material

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In death, will Michael Jackson be more profitable?

Michael Jackson’s financial woes were well documented: Numerous lawsuits, loss of control of his beloved Neverland and reports that he was hundreds of millions of dollars in debt all point to a complex money mess that trailed the King of Pop as vigilantly as his most ardent fans. But might he find the financial success in death that eluded him in the last years of his life “A few years ago, a gentleman came along with the public company called CKX, and they purchased the intellectual property rights associated with Elvis Presley and that was in excess of $100 million,” said Mark Roesler, chairman and chief executive officer of CMG Worldwide, a business and marketing agent whose client roster boasts several deceased celebrities, including James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. “The most logical question is [whether Michael Jackson is] worth more than Elvis,” Roesler added.

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Battles over Jackson’s kids, assets may loom

Michael Jackson’s life has ended, but the legal battles over his possessions, his debts and his children are likely just beginning. Perhaps the biggest and saddest question is what will happen to the late singer’s two sons and his daughter: 12-year-old Prince Michael I, 11-year-old Paris and 7-year-old Prince Michael II.

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Michael Jackson’s legal woes likely to live on

Michael Jackson was a one-man cottage industry for the legal profession. Two child-molestation investigations (no convictions), two divorces, myriad civil lawsuits over concerts, special performances and soured business deals, near-bankruptcy and the threatened foreclosure of his Neverland ranch kept teams of lawyers busy. Jackson’s legal stable included the elite of Los Angeles, California, litigators — Thomas Mesereau Jr., Mark Geragos and the late Johnnie L.

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Michael Jackson Dead at 50: A Life of Talent and Tragedy

The tragedy of Michael Jackson’s death at age 50, reportedly from cardiac arrest, pales in comparison to the tragedy of his life. To understand all that Jackson had and lost requires wiping away three decades of plastic surgeries that deformed him, erratic behavior that made his name synonymous with the warping powers of fame, and a 2005 trial for sexually abusing a child that, even though he was spared of any finding of wrongdoing, made him a pariah to all but the most brainwashed of fans. But if you can forgive or forget all that, underneath was one of the most talented entertainers of the 20th century.

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